A Timeless Icon
With more than 165 years of history, Borsalino stands as a symbol of Italian craftsmanship and timeless style. In conversation with RLI, the Managing Director Mauro Baglietto highlights how the iconic hat maker continues to blend heritage, artistry and innovation to stay relevant in today’s global luxury market.
Borsalino is an iconic, centuries-old Italian luxury hat manufacturer founded in 1857 by Giuseppe Borsalino in Alessandria, Italy, known for its exceptional craftsmanship, high-quality felt and straw hats and timeless elegance. The brand, which has endured changes in ownership, continues its tradition of artisanal excellence by using traditional manufacturing processes, high-quality materials and incorporating contemporary trends and collaborations with fashion designers.
“We consider ourselves the ambassador of the Italian savoir-faire. Today we still operate with care and craft. To produce one hat, it takes more than 50 operations, each performed by hand, over the course of seven weeks. It is this level of quality that we put into all of our products that allows a Borsalino hat to stand out,” explains Mauro Baglietto, Managing Director.
The company operates 15 monobrand units across Italy, France and the UK. Their stores are split across two categories, the retail store and the travel retail store. While they began with their own retail stores, the travel retail store count has risen quickly in recent times and offers the business contact with a different kind of customer, a young and more international consumer.
Global expansion is on the horizon for Borsalino, beginning by adding to their European presence with an additional location in London, UK and another in Paris, France. From here, other major cities such as Barcelona or Madrid in Spain are the target, as is every other major city across Europe. They will then look to grow their portfolio by having stores in tier one cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in China.
“We consider our sites a central point where customers can capitalise on our whole collection,” highlights Baglietto. “They are service points for guests and a place where they can physically come and try on our products and work with our trained staff to find the perfect hat and the perfect fit.”
To continually evolve and grow the brand, they are currently focusing their energies on two areas. The first is co-branding activities, where they have already collaborated with such renowned names as Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino. This is an important distribution channel for the company as it offers the opportunity for customers who may not normally shop in Borsalino stores to discover the quality of the brand. The second area is product expansion. While their main product is of course the hat, they are now branching out into the field of accessories as they look to offer a complete look for their customers.
While the business is steeped in heritage and history, this does not mean they neglect the importance of current elements within the retail world, namely social media and the growing influence of artificial intelligence. Baglietto comments that new technologies are extremely important and that they implement these within the business in such a way that it not only expands the global reach of the company, but that it continues to respect the heritage and prestige of their offering. On the subject of AI, the Managing Director says that it can be an incredibly useful tool. The hat industry, more than most, relies on testing how the product looks and feels and this is where AI tools assist. These platforms offer customers a chance to see how the products could look, it can help highlight the best shape hat for the contours of their face and assist in people making the right choice for them.
Sustainability is another critically important aspect in modern retail, as consumers, particularly younger generations, increasingly demand eco-conscious products and brand transparency, leading to higher brand loyalty and purchase intent.
“In our case, we feel we have a slight advantage when it comes to sustainability, because in terms of raw material, straw is a material that is incredibly sustainable, offering even more value to our products. In terms of our merchandise, the Fedora hat for example, which is a popular one for customers to bring back to us for us to clean and maintain, means it is a product made for the long-term, rather than being something that is used for one season and then thrown away,” Baglietto elicits.
With a history spanning as long as Borsalino’s, what is it that has allowed the business to stand the test of time? For Baglietto, it is simple, he feels it is value. That link between quality and value for money is the reason customers have come back for so long as well as the company’s ability to maintain its heritage and still produce its core product, the hat, in the same way they did back when they first started out.
“Despite a long and successful past, we still have a lot of challenges in front of us. Our immediate goal is to improve our presence in the world; this is definitely an ongoing challenge for us. In certain countries, we are very strong and well-known, but in others we need to work on our distribution and reach,” says Baglietto.
He continues by highlighting that their other main challenge is to build the brand’s product range so that it may be represented as more of a lifestyle concept for customers.
“There is plenty to work on moving forward and we are excited to see what the next stage brings us as we look to improve our presence in the lifestyle sector,” Baglietto concludes.
